Mammootty, Shaji Karun team up for their first film

Thiruvananthapuram, June 8 (IANS) Veteran Malayalam superstar Mammootty, who is on a roll with all his releases this year becoming super hits, is upbeat about his latest film "Kutti Srank" with award winning director Shaji N. Karun, shooting for which will begin June 15.

This is the first time the two acclaimed veterans of the Malayalam film industry will be teaming together.

Shaji began his career as a cinematographer and later turned to direction, with his first film "Piravi" that was released in 1989 winning him the prestigious Camera d'Or-Mention d'honneur at the Cannes Film Festival.

Since then, every film of Shaji has attracted international attention.

"Kutti Srank" that translates into boat driver has Mammooty playing the lead role. It unfolds through the impressions three women living on different islands form of him when he arrives to deliver supplies.

Mammooty, in turn, reacts differently to what the three women have to say about him.

"I am really excited because I will be playing three different characters but not three different roles," Mammootty told IANS.

"It is going to be a challenge for me because the basic nature of all the three characters is the same but there are different behavioural patterns and mannerisms based on what the three women say," he added.

The storyline of the film, Shaji's fifth, is being kept under wraps. It is scheduled for an international premier at next year's Cannes Film Festival.

The names of the female leads have also not been revealed beyond that one will be a Sri Lankan and the other a Bengali actress, while the third is still under consideration.

The film will be shot in three schedules, all of them along the Kerala coast.

Anjali, who has been working with acclaimed cinematographer Santosh Sivan, will crank the camera for the film, while its fight sequences will be staged by a Japanese firm that handles the action sequences for Jackie Chan films.

"Kutti Srank" will also mark the maiden entry of Reliance Big Entertainment into the Malayalam film industry.